


Pomegranate Seeds

by Jessica314



Category: Twilight, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Canon Compliant, Canon Gapfiller, Gen, Missing Moments, Outtakes, saga timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28413180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessica314/pseuds/Jessica314
Summary: A collection of canon gapfillers set during the Twilight Saga. These are a few "missing moments" that fill in the blanks. Chapter 1 is a chronological index organized by which saga book the scene belongs in.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale
Comments: 11
Kudos: 4
Collections: Twilight





	1. Index

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this new collection! I've often been asked whether Tale of Years will be extending into the saga timeline. It won't; Tale of Years is all about the years that came before, how the characters came to be who they are in the Twilight saga. And that's where my main interest is; I enjoy the saga and Bella/Edward and all that, but my main focus is in the past. But I do sometimes like to dream up "missing moments" that might happen behind the scenes during the saga, so I thought it would be nice to have a little collection for those scenes. These will probably be fairly short, and I may use this collection to stretch my writing muscles a bit more and experiment with various types of third person POV. I might also play around with some "outtakes" to the saga—existing scenes in other points of view. Please understand that I have no plans to update this collection with any regularity—just when inspiration hits. I'll also include elements that link to Tale of Years when I can!
> 
> I'd like to keep these organized here in an index in chapter 1, just like I do with the Tale of Years one-shots. (This is ridiculously ambitious, seeing as how I only have a couple written at the moment, but why not!) So whenever I update this collection I'll keep the scenes organized here by which book they'd take place in. This index also references a few other one-shots/fics I've already posted previously so you can see where in the saga they take place. Those listings that begin with a chapter number will be here in this new collection. Thank you to everyone who has been encouraging me to do this!
> 
> Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga and its characters all belong to Stephenie Meyer. No profit is made here and no offense intended.

**Twilight/Midnight Sun**

3- Gavel - a moment during the family meeting

**New Moon**

Second Meeting - separate fic, Demetri's POV of the saga. Begins with Edward's arrival to Volterra in _New Moon_

**Eclipse**

2 - Ashes (just after the battle)

**Breaking Dawn**

Dancing Cheek to Cheek - separate one-shot set during Bella and Edward's wedding

Wedding Gifts - separate fic set during Bella and Edward's honeymoon

Winning Them Over - separate fic, Renesmee's POV of meeting the witnesses (on haitus, will hopefully finish someday!)


	2. Ashes

**Some of the biggest "missing moments" through the saga were those fallout moments—tough conversations and scenes where the characters (especially others besides Edward and Bella) process something big that happened. The Eclipse battle, especially. I can imagine each of the Cullens being affected by what happened and having to work through it a bit. And it's really odd how none of them ever mention Bree again. So this is one possibility...**

* * *

Despite their victory, it was not a time for celebration.

The Cullens stood frozen, still facing in the direction of where Jane and the others had silently disappeared into the thick wall of trees. Bella's hitched breathing eventually broke them out of the trance. She was shivering, both from the cold and from the shock at what she had just witnessed.

"It's over," Alice assured everyone, once she realized they were waiting for her to speak. "They're already getting on the plane."

There were no cheers, no hugs. They all drew closer together for a moment of exhausted gratitude, and that was it.

Edward took Bella away first. A few moments later, Rosalie and Emmett silently drifted away, not back toward the house but northward toward Vancouver. They would be gone for at least a couple of days. Rosalie paused beside Esme and laid a comforting hand on her mother's shoulder as she passed by. Emmett opened his mouth to say something to Alice, but she just nodded, and then he was gone too.

Jasper stood a little apart from the others, staring at the smoking pile of ash. Now that the danger was past, the memories crashed over him again in rapid succession. It was the smell; the acrid sweetness of immortal death was all too familiar. This battle had been so unlike the others, but the smell was the same.

Alice's hesitant touch on his hand brought him back to the present, reminding him that she was safe. His eyes traced upward now, following the wisps and spirals of purple smoke until they faded against the sky into nothingness.

"We need to scatter the ash," he reminded Carlisle.

"Of course. Alice, did you happen to see if Edward—?"

She shook her head. "He wanted to leave the smoke burning for the guards to see. They would have stayed longer, otherwise. Emmett and Rose are taking care of it on their way up into Canada."

Esme didn't move yet. Carlisle, Alice, and Jasper got out three of the shovels that had been brought for this purpose and got to work on the far side of the ash heap. It was a grisly job. Carlisle couldn't help thinking that all those disappearance cases from Seattle had finally been solved and that, in the end, he and his family had become the killers that the detectives would continue to search for long after today. He took some small, ironic comfort in the fact that the Guards would never have spared the girl Bree or any other prisoners that he might have taken. He glanced over at Esme, worried by her stillness. But the work needed to be done.

The more incriminating evidence was buried: stubborn shoes that didn't want to burn, jewelry, zippers, buttons, buckles. The purple color of smoke was nearly gone now, turned gray once the fire had finished with the more flammable parts of the dead. As they worked to scatter the ash, the smoke dissipated altogether.

"Wait."

The others looked back at Esme. She was inching toward the last bit of ash, a little pile that lay just on the edge of the blackened ground they were unearthing.

The girl.

Esme knelt down and gently touched the warm ashes. Carlisle took one look at the expression on her face and swept to her side. By the time his shovel clattered to the ground he was already kneeling beside her, one hand laid over both of hers. Their fingers curled together in the ash.

"She didn't know—" Esme began, but her sob broke through and she merely twisted her face into Carlisle's shoulder.

"Oh Esme, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he whispered into her hair. It smelled like the purple smoke.

"No!" she said suddenly, and she squirmed out of Carlisle's arms to turn on Jasper. He had come closer, too, and was just reaching his hand out toward Esme.

"Esme?" Jasper said in surprise. She had never put limits on the unique comfort he could offer; that was Rosalie's and Edward's territory.

"No," Esme told him again, looking uncharacteristically angry. "You _let me feel._ I'm going to grieve her today, just today. What could have been. What _would_ have been if..." She shook her head, unable to say more.

"As am I," Carlisle said softly. He touched Esme's shoulder and she folded herself back into his arms.

They sat in the dirt, holding vigil over the girl's ashes while Alice and Jasper silently finished the work of cleaning up. It wasn't the first time there had almost been another Cullen, but it had never been anywhere near this close. It had never ended so badly. It had never ended in fire before now. Esme felt the old grief rising up in her throat, tightening around her heart, suffocating her joy. She hadn't had time to love the girl, not really, and she didn't understand why it _hurt_ so much.

Finally, slowly, she scooped up a generous handful of the ashes and looked around for a way to carry them home. Carlisle silently offered his shirt pocket; they would find a permanent home for this particular memory later today. He was uneasy bringing home such a tangible reminder, but there was an empty look of determination in Esme's eyes. It reminded him of something he had never seen, and that frightened him.

When Alice and Jasper were ready to leave, they shared a look with Carlisle, a silent agreement that they would need to pass on to the others: that unless Esme brought it up first, they would not speak of the girl Bree again.

And then Carlisle and Esme were alone. They sat and waited until the ashes had cooled, and then, with a relief that ached like an old wound, Esme was finally able to cry.


	3. Gavel

**(I'm going through my old Tumblr posts looking for ficlets that could go in this collection...)**

**This is just a brief moment in Edward's POV during the family meeting, just after the moment Alice dropped the bombshell about Edward being in love with Bella. It always seemed odd to me whenever Jasper's gift didn't come into play in big emotional epiphanies like this, you know? So Edward is just completely stunned and trying to convince himself that Alice could be wrong...**

* * *

But if it was anything resembling love… wouldn’t Jasper have known? I turned and looked at my brother, trying in vain to peer through the cracks in his mental defenses, scrambling to find evidence for or against Alice’s claim. He stared back, his eyes as empty as his mind despite Alice’s pronouncement still echoing in both our ears. It took me the better part of a second to sweep through all my memories of his thoughts over the past few days, weeks… particularly during those times when he and Bella were both in my presence, in the cafeteria or out in the parking lot. Hardly anything; just some echoes of Emmett’s bewildered derision. No worried analysis of my growing obsession. No running through possible scenarios and outcomes which might spell danger for our family… for Alice. No reflection at all on the shambles my emotional state was in, that I had _known_ it was in even before this sentence was delivered.

I tilted my head, still locked in silent combat with Jasper’s mind. The complete lack of ready evidence was in itself significant evidence. Why had he been keeping all of this from me? For him to bother, he must have felt that his unique perceptions _themselves_ were a danger, were I to discover them. Which meant that my finally being brought in on the secret now was exactly the outcome he had been trying to prevent. I felt a deadly chill run up my spine when I realized what he had been willing to do today in order to prevent it. Jasper’s eyes narrowed as he continued to return my stare; he felt my suspicion, and he had no rebuttal. We both frowned and felt the icy fear lock around my throat as the gavel fell.

Alice was right.


End file.
